Generally speaking, inefficient shipping truck space organization is a common issue affecting transportation of freight that does not occupy a complete truck (also known as less-than-truckload, or LTL), which affects both customers and LTL service providers. Inefficient space use can lead to lower revenue due to the wasted truck capacity or potential freight damage. For seamless operation it is crucial to have the freights on the truck ordered based on priority, availability, affinity, and other shipping criteria, which may require repeated substantial rearrangement of the freight. This need is often addressed by using a pallet truck and a forklift carried on the truck, which leads to additional space reduction. Moreover, operating such machinery can be time and effort consuming due to significant unloading and reloading of the freight needed to provide space to operate the forklift.
Some attempts have been made to address this issue. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 9,148,077 by Henderson, a magnetic lifting device is described. The device may generate magnetic lift using a moving magnetic field to generate an eddy current effect in conductive substrate beneath the device. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,966,083 by Cheng, a magnetic levitation bed is disclosed. The invention includes a bed frame having permanent magnet arrays, cam-fitting mechanisms, and a base with a power control box. In U.S. Pat. No. 8,281,888 by Bergmann, a storage system is described. It uses an electromagnetic surface-area motor to move conveying devices mounted on wheels or rolls. A U.S. Pat. No. 2,695,165 by Hansen describes a concept of electromagnetic accelerometer, but does not talk about electromagnetic cells capable of utilizing such accelerometer and a processor to control orientation and magnetic strength of electromagnets. Overall, all of these inventions rely on magnetism to in one way or the other, but neither of them offers an option of using electromagnetic cells with accelerometer and processor to control movement of objects with a remote control device. Furthermore, none of these references discuss controlling individual electromagnetic elements to move the objects by changing polarity and magnetic field strength.
Therefore, a need exists for a compact system capable of easy and precise freight movement. In addition to improved space use efficiency, loading and unloading time should be reduced compared to the standard techniques. Last but not least, improved freight safety, and hence reduced product damage, should be also provided by such system.